Outside of the Yakuza base, Shinsou and Kirishima were huddled on one side of Fatgum, Tamaki on the other. The rest of the heroes and police were scattered around the perimeter, ready to move in and take out the Yakuza when they started to move.
"I still don't understand," Kirishima whispered. "The girl was rescued and Aizawa has to stay with her? Why? And how did she get rescued? I mean, none of us did it."
"Aizawa will tell us more later. We should just focus on what we are doing right now," Shinsou whispered back.
"Does the girl have a weird quirk or something? That would explain why Aizawa had to stay behind. So if she gets out of control, he can turn off her quirk. Come on, Shinsou, he had to have said something to you!"
Fatgum flicked the back of Kirishima's head, making the boy flinch but grin up at his mentor. Fatgum gave him a smile back.
"Keep your eyes on the mission, ya' hear? We don't wanna have any of these guys escaping."
"Yessir!" Kirishima said enthusiastically. Tamaki nodded as well, though he kept quiet. He'd been quiet all morning, ever since they told him he wouldn't be in the same team as Mirio or Nejire.
Shinsou wasn't positive, but he was starting to get the feeling that there was something more between the three than met the eye. And after the revelation he had regarding being gay and being a hero, the idea of being a hero and in a poly-relationship just made his head spin.
He quickly packed those thoughts and feelings away in the back of his mind to ignore, just like he did with most of his emotions.
"Alright, remember boys. Stay together as best as ya' can. Fall back if ya' get hurt too badly. And if things go sideways, go for help. Am I clear?"
They all nodded up at him just as the Yakuza started to trickle out of the base.
It was time.
--
"Vlad King and I are going to work with Nezu to figure out the details of you two staying at UA. While we do that, you two can get some sleep in here. Midnight is going to come in and keep an eye on you two while Shouta goes to talk with Eri," Present Mic said, opening a door. Inside was what looked like a nice apartment, though it had two doors; both on the same wall. When Deku pointedly looked at the second door, Mic smiled shyly. "We wanted the kids to think that Shouta and I had separate dorms. Really, Nezu had an apartment built for us. That way we could still live together but we'd be here in the dorms with the kids."
Without hesitation, Toga was walking around the living room and looking at everything. As she went to pick up a picture frame, a small noise from the couch caught her attention. When she turned to look, a ball of white fluff perked up from behind one of the throw pillows. Gasping, she hurried over to the couch.
"A kitty!" she whispered, putting her hand out for the cat to sniff.
"Oh, yeah, we have two cats. That one is my boy: Sardine. Sho's is around here somewhere. Her name is Dumpster."
Deku snorted. "Dumpster? Sardine?"
"Hey! Sardine is a Broadway reference. Waitress is a great musical and I will fight you on that. And Sho named her Dumpster because that's where he found her. I think he originally named her that as a joke to annoy me, but the name stuck and now it's all she'll answer to."
As if on cue, a fat tabby cat came padding from down the hall, meowing loudly. She wound her way between Mic's legs and then rubbed against Deku's shins affectionately.
"Huh. She likes you."
"Animals usually do," Deku said, kneeling down to pet her. She purred happily before trotting off again.
Sardine was looking at Toga warily, his ears pinned back. Most animals didn't love her, so it wasn't a surprise that he was nervous. Something about her eyes and sharp grin screamed dangerous , even to animals, so they were cautious around her. Carefully, Toga ran her fingers across the top of his head. His blue eyes blinked at her a few times before he got up, stretched languidly, and then padded after Dumpster. Toga pouted as he left.
"So there is a guest room and an office that you guys can stay in. Shouta put a futon in the office and it's pretty comfortable. The guest room bed should already be made up," Mic said. He went over to a hall closet and opened it up, pulling some extra blankets and pillows down from a shelf.
"Actually, can we sleep out here for now?" Deku asked, shifting from foot to foot nervously.
Mic frowned. "Wouldn't you be more comfortable on a bed or something? The couch out here isn't that comfortable."
"I'd rather not get locked in a small room in a hero's apartment minutes after meeting him."
Blushing, Mic nodded and tossed the blankets and pillows onto the couch.
"I'll go get the blankets and pillows from the guest room. You guys can set yourself up here. I'll also see if I can find some clothes for you two to sleep in."
Toga nudged Deku towards the couch. "You should sleep there, since you got hurt."
"I'm healed now, it's fine."
"Well, you're probably still sore, so take the couch."
Mic came back with extra pillows and blankets, letting the two kids divide those as well. Deku tried one more time to get Toga to take the couch, but she refused and instead built a nest of blankets and pillows on the floor. Mic brought them each a pair of loose gym shorts and t-shirts to change into. The clothes were way too big, but they were comfortable and soft, so neither of them minded. Toga took her hair the rest of the way down, leaving it tangled around her face as she crawled into the pile of blankets she had made. Deku flopped face first onto the couch and yanked a blanket over himself, so tired that he dozed off almost immediately.
A little while later, a knock at the door startled both him and Toga awake. He bolted upright, his green hair smashed flat on one side. His eyes were wide as he stared at the door. Toga had also bolted up, but she had come flying out of the blanket pile and put herself between Deku and the door, teeth bared.
Mic, who was sitting at the dining room table working on some paperwork, got up slowly.
"It's okay, guys. It's just Midnight coming to sit with you guys, remember?" he said, his voice soft and gentle.
When he opened the door, a tall woman stepped inside. She was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a tank top, her dark hair thrown up into a ponytail. She had a bag slung across her body that looked to be filled to capacity. Her glasses were slightly crooked on her face, but her smile was kind.
"Hey Mic. I've got it from here. Vlad and Nezu are in the front office waiting for you."
As Mic left, the woman, who Deku assumed was Midnight, looked at the two teens and gave them the same warm smile.
"Hey guys! Sorry to wake you. They fed you, right? Mic and Eraser aren't great cooks, so they probably fed you junk, didn't they? I can make you guys something if you're hungry."
Toga shook her head, letting her lips drop to cover her teeth again. She didn't stop glaring though.
"We're fine," Toga bit out as she slowly moved back to her blanket pile.
Midnight wasn't phased by Toga's posturing.
"Great! I'm going to be here at the table working on some stuff for my classes. You two get some sleep."
With that, Midnight sat down at the table and pulled out stacks of papers and a laptop, setting it all up so she could work on grading. Deku watched her get settled, confused on why she was so relaxed.
He and Toga were criminals. They'd done bad things and no one trusted them. Hell, at this point, even the League wouldn't trust them; they only had each other. Yet Midnight was acting relaxed, like they were just regular teenagers. When she caught Deku staring, she cocked her head curiously.
"You good over there, hun?"
"You're weird," Deku grumbled, before flopping back down to sleep.
Toga snorted from the floor and curled up even tighter under her blankets.
--
After the raid, the medics looked over everyone. Thankfully, there had been minimal injuries since they had caught the Yakuza by surprise. There were some bruises and cuts, but the only serious injury was Tamaki's broken wrist. A medic with a healing quirk took care of that in the blink of an eye, and all the students were released to go back to UA.
Shinsou and Kirishima went in search of the girls, not wanting to leave without them. It took a minute, but they managed to find Uraraka and Tsu being fussed over by Nejire. As soon as she saw them, she was in front of them and checking them over.
"I really don't like that they had first years on this mission," the older girl grumbled, poking at a bruise on Kirishima's arm. "But I didn't get a say in it. Come on, let's find Tamaki and Mirio. We can all walk back together!"
Shinsou let Nejire guide them to where Sir Nighteye was debriefing with Mirio, who had his arm tightly wrapped around Tamaki's waist. Nejire bounced up to the pair and slipped her hand into Tamaki's.
Nighteye glanced over at the first year students, a grim look on his face.
"I will be escorting you all back to UA. Eraserhead has requested that all of you, including the third years, come to the 1-A dorms. He has information regarding the rescued girl that he wants to share with you all."
All the students, besides Shinsou, looked nervous. They all knew it was never good when Aizawa wanted to 'talk.'
As they walked towards the cars that Nighteye had called for them, Shinsou slipped his phone out and texted Aizawa.
'We are on our way back. Everything good there?'
Within moments, Aizawa responded.
' I've mostly been with Eri. She will need to stay with Recovery Girl for a while. Kid is malnourished and dehydrated, among other things. The other two have been sleeping. Midnight stayed with them. Zashi and Vlad have been working with Nezu to get everything taken care of. There's a lot of paperwork.'
Shinsou felt some of the tension leave his shoulders, knowing that everyone was alright. Slipping his phone back into his pocket, he got into the car with Uraraka, Tsu, and Kirishima. Centipeder was driving this car while Nighteye drove the other with the third years. When they got back to campus, Centipeder left them, saying he was going to handle some of the post-op paperwork. The ride had been quiet, everyone too tired to talk, and the walk to the dorm was the same.
That is until they walked in.
All of class 1-A was gathered, along with 1-B. Vlad King, Aizawa, Mic, Nezu, and All Might were corralling the kids, trying to keep them from bickering and causing trouble. When they saw the work study students, they only got louder.
"You guys are back! We were so worried!" Mina shrieked, running over to hug Tsu. The couple went to sit in one of the armchairs, curling up together.
Uraraka hurried over to Iida, who draped an arm across her shoulders and pulled her into his side. Shinsou trailed after and sat on the ground at Todoroki's feet. Todoroki slipped a warm hand under Shinsou's capture weapon and rested it on the back of his neck. Shinsou melted under the warmth, closing his eyes and relaxing into it.
"Alright, now that everyone is here, we can start," Aizawa said with a sigh. "Please hold all questions, comments, and outbursts until I have finished speaking. Is that clear?"
The teens all nodded, looking confused and nervous. When he was sure they were all paying attention, Aizawa continued.
"Be aware that everything I am about to tell you has been approved of by all the teacher's in this room. Sir Nighteye, the hero at the back, is also aware of everything I am telling you and agreed to this course of action. I will not be telling you all the details, as it is a part of an ongoing investigation, but I will tell you what I can.
"The League of Villains formed a partnership with the Yakuza, sending two… I hesitate to call them both members…"
Nezu cut in, smiling slightly. "We will refer to them as contacts for now."
"Fine. They sent two contacts to work with the Yakuza. While the two were there, they discovered that the Yakuza were abusing, torturing, and using a young girl by the name of Eri to create not only quirk-erasing bullets, but quirk-destroying bullets. Eri has a quirk called Rewind and they were using her DNA to destroy the quirk factor in the target's DNA. The League contacts did not approve of how Eri was being treated and, knowing the rest of the League would not help, they reached out to me to ask if I would save Eri.
"What these contacts were not aware of was that Sir Nighteye and his agency were already working to take down this sect of the Yakuza. The information that the contacts, or I guess informants, told me was enough to form a task force to raid the Yakuza, which a number of the work study students were a part of. The raid took place this morning, which is why some of your classmates are still in their hero uniforms.
"Late last night, the head of the Yakuza, who is known as Kai Chisaki, or Overhaul, showed the informants the process of how Eri's DNA was extracted to make the bullets. It was a highly dangerous and painful procedure that left Eri with injuries. Overhaul then told the informants that the Yakuza base was going to be moved. The informants realized that if the Yakuza moved, the raid would be ruined. That, or if the raid happened at the same time as the move, Eri was more likely to get hurt. So they made a plan. They took Eri and ran from the Yakuza. They brought her here, to UA and they both turned themselves in. They are willingly working with UA to stop the League by providing information on them."
"In light of the actions the two have taken, and due to their history, we are allowing them to stay here on campus as wards of UA, just like we are with Eri. The two are around your guys' age and will be students in the hero course; one in each class. We will be initiating a villain rehabilitation program that Nezu has been working on for a number of years. Precautions will be taken to keep you all safe and at no point in time should any of you be alone with either of them until we tell you otherwise."
Aizawa paused, taking in the shocked faces of the students. He heaved another sigh.
"These two have risked a lot to help Eri and to help us. Without them, there would have been many more injuries during the raid today, and possibly even deaths. They have given up everything they know to do the right thing. They are here to learn and to grow to be better people, the same as all of you. I'm not saying you have to be their best friends, but I am asking that you at least try to not be mean. I'll take questions now."
They were all silent for a moment before Momo cautiously raised her hand.
"Sensei, who are they? Do we know them?" she asked in a timid voice.
"One was not an active member and considers himself more of a 'freelancer,' so none of you will know him. The other, you guys do know. It's Himiko Toga. We don't have the legal name for the other yet, but he goes by -"
"Deku!?" Bakugou shouted, startling everyone. He leapt to his feet, his face pale and his eyes wide as he looked past Aizawa to the hallway where Midnight was leading a messy haired Deku and Toga towards the common room.
The two criminals had been rubbing sleep from their eyes, but at Bakugou's yell, they jumped and gaped at the gathered students.
"Oh fuck," Deku whispered.